Get to Know Your Characters (Second Date+)

We’re still talking about character development 🙂 . Last time I wrote that it is beneficial to “ask” your characters typical questions that you might ask on a first date. Things like favorite hobbies or where their name comes from.

Obviously, there are deeper questions to be asked in any relationship to help get to know someone better. The same applies to your characters! And so this post I wanted to pose a few more questions that, if explored, will help to increase understanding of who your characters really are and thereby help you to write about them easier and at a deeper level. If you ever experience writer’s block, it may be because you don’t know your characters good enough and how they would react in a given situation or scene. Thus, I feel like this exercise could be beneficial not only during pre-writing, but at any phase of the writing process.

Enjoy! And feel free to comment your own questions below!

Questions for your character (second date and beyond):

What are your character’s flaws?

What does your character value? And why?

What does your character value most in other people? And why?

What does your character dislike most in other people? And why?

What does your character like most about herself?

What does your character like least about herself?

What do they want in the story? What is their object of desire?

Why do they want it so badly?

What are potential obstacles to retrieving the object of desire that your character must overcome?

What are the consequences of not retrieving the object of desire?

Do they potentially want something else besides the main object of the desire? (i.e. does a hero want to stop the bad guy AND get the girl?) I call this a “secondary want.”

What are potential obstacles to gaining the secondary want that your character must overcome?

What are the consequences of not gaining the secondary want?

Props to NowNovel.com for getting me started on this train of thought, some of these questions are theirs from this article. Check it out!